Algeria is a strong candidate for joining Brics because it has a large population and a high GDP (measured in international dollars using purchasing power parity). It is one of the top 40 countries in the world in terms of both of these factors. The country in North Africa exports more natural gas than any other country in Africa and is the fifth largest in the world.
State-owned oil company Sonatrach is already the biggest on the continent, and Algeria is set to become Italy’s biggest gas supplier now that Russia’s supplies to Europe have been cut off by sanctions and the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines.
Algeria gets along well with all the countries in the Brics bloc. In 2013, China surpassed France as Algeria’s biggest trading partner, and the two countries just signed their second five-year agreement to work together. Algeria and India have been friends for a long time. India helped Algeria win its independence from France, and Algeria supports India getting a permanent seat on the UN security council.
Russia and Algeria also get along very well, especially when it comes to military matters. Algeria gets most of its weapons from Russia, and the two countries recently did military drills together. Russia is also thinking about putting together a natural gas cartel with Iran, like the oil cartel Opec. Adding Algeria to the Brics group could speed up the growth of such an organization.
Brics is growing
During a meeting last month at the Russian ministry of foreign affairs, a high-ranking government official made it clear that making Brics official was not a top priority for the “club.” On the other hand, growth is expected to happen soon. This really does make a lot of sense. Because the agreement is not formal, each country can take what it wants from it, and cooperation between the countries can be improved without the need for all of them to agree on the same thing.
Brics events already regularly invite countries that aren’t in the group to take part. This shows that switching from Brics to a “Brics-plus” format is both possible and wanted by the current members. In November, after meeting with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said, “Applications have already been officially submitted, so the Brics member states have agreed to negotiate the criteria and principles for reviewing these applications.” Lavrov said that these talks “won’t take long.”
After being kicked out of what was called the G8, Russia has a strong reason to want the Brics to grow. China also wants to create an alternative to the G7 because geopolitical tensions with the US are getting worse. As the country with the world’s fastest-growing major economy, India should be especially determined to use Brics as a platform to grow its political and economic power. SA, Brazil, and other developing countries that may join the bloc in the future would all benefit from having a stronger political voice.
Brics has already grown once, when China helped convince South Africa to join in 2010. This proves that it is possible. There are no formal requirements except that all of the current members must agree. This gives countries a strong reason to join as soon as possible, before more non-founding countries have a say in how the organization grows. We’ve already seen this happen in the EU, where growth has slowed in part because everyone has to agree.
Brics as a poststructural move
Brics is in many ways a decolonial movement, which is another reason why countries like Algeria are interested in it. Algeria, like South Africa, was against Nato’s intervention in Libya, which led to the killing of the head of the African Union without due process and the destruction of what used to be one of Africa’s most prosperous countries. For a more recent example, Algerians were very upset when French President Emmanuel Macron asked if Algeria was a country before France took over. Even though the French occupation of Algeria led to the deaths of millions of Algerians, Paris has never apologized for the bloody way it treated its Mediterranean neighbors.
In 2023, South Africa will take over as chairman of Brics. This will happen at a very important time for deciding how Brics will grow, which will give the bloc more power as a political unit. It could also help reach a critical mass for creating new ways to handle money. This could make it cheaper for poorer countries to pay their debts. Even though these countries often have lower debt levels, better trade balances, and faster rates of economic growth, they often have to pay more to borrow money for development than their former colonizers.
Algeria’s good relationships with the other Brics countries make it more likely that it will be invited to join the group. As more countries join, Brics would become Brics+. The group’s main goals, which include better political coordination among developing countries and the creation of alternative payment and reserve currency systems for global trade, would get a boost from more countries joining.
Algeria is already a part of Opec, the Arab Trade Zone, and the African Continental Free Trade Area. Algeria can trade freely and has good relationships with a lot of countries because it is part of these economic and trade groups. The next logical step is to join Brics.
Having a seat at the Brics table is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for developing countries. It gives them the chance to work together on educational, scientific, and financial projects and gives them a much-needed political voice.